486 RODENTIAand inner surface of legs whitish except for dark inguinalpatches and collar. External characters.—The external form is typically leporine,the hind legs noticeably elongated, the ears long and the eyeslarge; soles of feet covered by a dense brush of somewhatelongated and stiffened hairs which nearly conceal the large,nearly straight claws ; digits, 5-4 ; front foot with third digitlongest, fourth and second successively shorter but not con¬spicuously so, fifth with tip of claw barely reaching base ofclaw of fourth, first much shorter than the others, only theclaw projecting from integument of foot, its tip falling decidedlyshort of level of base of claw of fifth. Mammse: p 1 — 1,a 2-2 = 6. Colour.—Upper parts a coarse grizzle of cream-buff and black,the cream-buff in excess on sides, the black usually in excess onback, especially across loins. On rump the ground colour becomespaler and on outer surface of legs slightly darker and with anevident tinge of clay-colour, though in neither region formingany decided contrast with surrounding parts. On parting thefur of the back it is seen to have five colour bands : (1) a broadgrey (about Ridgway No. 6) basal area (13 mm.), the extremebase somewhat paler ; (2) a brownish band (6 mm.) varying inexact colour between russet and light clay-colour and 6ccupyingterminal portion of underfur ; (3) blackish (2 mm.), not sharplydefined below; (4) cream-buff (3-4 mm.); (5) black (2-4 mm.),the last three occupying terminal portion of longer hairs. Inaddition to the underfur and ordinary longer hairs there areothers about 40 mm. in length entirely black on back (except forgrey basal area), and black with a cream-buff sub-terminal ring onsides. These longest hairs are never conspicuously different fromthe general fur as they are in Lepus. Nape patch a clear brownintermediate between russet and clay-colour. Head essentiallylike back but more finely grizzled, the cheeks not evidentlydifferent from back, the pale eyering barely indicated. No lightspot between eye and muzzle or between eye and ear. Muzzle andregion from which whiskers spring a clear dull buffy clay-colour,not strongly contrasted with rest of head. Ears not noticeablycontrasted with head or back, their colour pattern nearly obsolete,though a faint trace of that so conspicuous in the hares isindicated by a slightly darker line along middle of posterior innersurface, and by a,slight greyish tinge on basal half of posteriorouter surface. The black tip is reduced to a mere ill-defined rim,sometimes obsolete and never more than 5 mm. wide, strictlyconfined to posterior surface. Collar and inguinal patches con¬color with sides, the inguinal patches .sometimes nearly meetingin median line. Rest of underparts together with inner side oflegs buffy white or pale cream-buff. On hind legs the whitisharea extends over dorsum of foot to extreme tip of toes, thoughsometimes suffused with the buffy brown of sides of feet. On